To Nancy Rodrigues: It is one's civil liberty as an American to deal with the hideous terrorist attacks of 9-11 and their mental and physical effects in either a pharmaceutical or other manner. How dare you insinuate all op customers are junkies poisoning themselves with Tylenol?

To Devlyn Corrigan: The regular uninsured Joe doesn't get your attention or the necessary medications from doctors like you, which is why I wrote the article. Read the article again with regard to what it said about the substances being addictive.

To Name Withheld, Chicago: How did he get the credit card? And if it weren't that substance, it could have been street drugs, which he could have obtained from peers. TropicalRx was not portrayed as one of the better ops in the piece. And ops do not want the problems of having adolescents order from them.

And to the other writers: Thanks for your supportthose comments made me glad I wrote the piece.

CORRECTION

Bryan Pickens was mistakenly identified in Ward Harkavy's "The National Bush-Cheney Gazillions Tour" (October 22-28) as a son of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens. That was based on a Federal Election Commission document that erroneously lists Bryan Pickens as an employee of Boone Pickens's oil company. Bryan Pickens, a Dallas entrepreneur and investor, is not related to Boone Pickens and has no connection to that company.